Several Options For Simsbury Senior Center Draw Support At Hearing

SIMSBURY — Four years after residents expressed the need for a new or renovated senior center, the town is taking steps to narrow down potential sites.

The board of selectmen held a public hearing on the next steps for the senior center Tuesday night, where several proposed options drew support. The board did not take action at the meeting.

The senior center is now in Eno Memorial Hall, and many residents have supported adding a 20,000-square-foot addition there with a parking deck. But the permanent building committee has suggested building a new center at a site owned by the state Department of Transportation at Iron Horse Boulevard between Wilcox Street and Jim Gallagher Way.

"You can add all the extra square feet you want, but if you can't get people into it, it's a waste of space," resident Don Zaylor said, expressing his frustration with a lack of parking at Eno Hall. "Why we are even considering this facility is beyond me."

The Eno addition with a parking deck would cost about $7.2 million, and without a parking deck it would cost $6.2 million, Town Engineer Jeff Shea said Tuesday. A new senior center at the DOT site would cost $7.4 million, but if the town has to pay an acquisition cost, that would raise the total to $8.2 million, he said.

Shea said there is a $5.6 million place holder in the 2016 budget to fund the project.

Shea said parking is insufficient at Eno Hall, with only 40 spaces for the 159 average daily users. Senior center officials has requested a covered portico and a drop-off area for Dial-A-Ride Buses, a large multi-purpose room, a fitness room/wellness space and better accessibility under the Americans with Disabilities Act, he said.

Keeping the center at Eno Hall would avoid the permanent displacement of current tenants and avoid some increased operating costs associated with a new facility, he said.

Reading a statement on behalf of the Simsbury Main Street Partnership, Nord Christensen said preserving the historic Eno Hall would create more jobs than new construction. He said the partnership supports the Eno renovation, pointing out that a majority of seniors say they prefer to remain there.

"The first choice of seniors all over town is overwhelmingly 'lower taxes,'" Christensen said. "Please be fiscally responsible and thrifty in using the resources we have."

While the DOT site has sufficient parking and a central location, Shea said there are some concerns about the unknown environmental conditions on the property. Shea has said previously that the DOT was not giving the town "full reign" to conduct environmental investigations, and that the town would have to purchase the property as is.

Shea said there are other alternatives for the center, including distributing different parts of the senior center into different buildings around town, such as the library or performing arts center. The town also owns a site at 36 Drake Hill Road that may be an alternative, he said.

Selectman Sean Askham expressed interest in keeping the performing arts center option on the table, and expressed concerns with the high cost of the Eno renovations and of building a new senior center.

"There is a lot of unknowns and we've got this immense pressure to make a decision because we've been talking about this for so long," he said. "People expect us to make a decision and I think we have to at some point but that doesn't mean we should go blow $8 million because everybody says makes a decision."